Pelicans power forward Anthony Davis has as much upside as any young player in the NBA. / Troy Taormina, USA TODAY Sports

by USA TODAY Sports Network, USA TODAY

by USA TODAY Sports Network, USA TODAY

Every week, USA TODAY Sports asks its NBA experts three questions about a hot topic in the league. This week, we address hopes and expectations for 2014.

Which player are you looking forward to watching develop in 2014?

Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports: Anthony Davis. The New Orleans Pelicans big man has quietly made some serious strides both late last season and early this season, but it seems like they've mostly gone unnoticed. He was arguably the best rookie in the second half of last season, and got off to a good start this year before going down with a broken left hand in early December. I covered the draft more extensively than normal the year he came out, and will not soon forget some of the bold proclamations made by scouts and front-office types about how special of a player Davis can be (see Kevin Garnett comparisons).

Since his return from injury? Davis is averaging 21.3 points (on 58.2% shooting), 11.1 rebounds, and two blocks a game as the Pelicans (14-15) have gone 3-3 with him back. From what I've been told, Davis is dying to earn a spot on the All-Star team next month and to play the hometown host role that James Harden enjoyed last year in Houston. It's a longshot, but we shall see. He sent a strong message that he's deserving on Monday with a monstrous game against Portland: 27 points (13 of 19 shooting), 12 rebounds and five blocks in a win against the Blazers team that is now 25-7. All-Star incumbent LaMarcus Aldridge of the Blazers had 28 points (13 of 25 shooting), eight rebounds and two blocks. And the edge for the night went to Davis.

Sean Highkin, USA TODAY Sports: This Milwaukee Bucks season is miserable, but rookie small forward Giannis Antetokounmpo is getting starter's minutes, and that alone makes them worth watching. The "Greek Freak" has an absurd wingspan (and apparently isn't done growing) and an intriguing skillset. I want to see him improve to the point where no writer or commentator can get around having to learn how to spell and pronounce his name.

Ian Levy, Hickory High: Davis was in the early stages of a breakout season before a broken hand sent him to the sidelines for the three weeks at the beginning of this month. He's back and finding his rhythm again, with production that is still just hinting at his tremendous ceiling. His physical gifts are unique and undeniably potent, but he's still figuring out how to increase their destructive capacity at both ends of the floor. The repetition of game experience seems to be the only thing standing between Davis and super-star production. Over the next 12 months I'm looking forward to watching him grow into himself and see how far he can stretch that potential.

Alex Kennedy, HoopsWorld: I'm excited to see how Andre Drummond continues to develop. The Detroit Pistons big man has already made huge strides and emerged as one of the better two-way centers in the league, but the sky is still the limit for him. He's only in his second year in the NBA and he's 20 years old. He still has room to grow (by cutting down on his fouls and improving his free throws), but he could be the best center in the NBA in the near future if he reaches his full potential.

Adi Joseph, USA TODAY Sports: I'm going to run the counterpoint here and say I'm most fascinated by how Tim Duncan will hold up. Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, his only true contemporaries, look old and finished. But Duncan's production has been limited more by minutes than ability. The San Antonio Spurs' NBA Finals run last season was no fluke, but they need a vintage effort from Duncan to do it again.

Give us one bold prediction for 2014.

Amick: The Clippers will not win the NBA title. OK, so maybe that's not all that bold, but this is as good a time as any to reverse the bold prediction I made over the summer when we were asked to turn in our projections for the season preview section. The Clippers had just added the esteemed Doc Rivers as coach, along with shooters Jared Dudley and J.J. Redick, and it seemed like all the right moves had been made to elevate the Clippers' already-impressive operation. But while Rivers has said all along that his team will be at its best late in the season, I'm just not seeing a group that I can envision winning it all anymore.

The injuries have hurt, to be sure, as they've been without Redick since late November (wrist break) and may get him back in a few weeks. They were 12-5 with him, and are 9-7 since he went down. But the main point of concern for Clippers fans has to be this: Chris Paul and Blake Griffin are playing better basketball than they have at any point in their already-accomplished careers, and they're still losing games at a rate not reflective of an elite squad. The Clippers (21-12) have lost three of their last four are in currently fourth in the West.

Highkin: The Los Angeles Lakers will take Andrew Wiggins with the first pick of the 2014 NBA draft.

Levy: I don't know where this ranks on the boldness scale, but I predict that both the Knicks and Nets are in tailspins they won't be able to pull out of this year. Both teams are playing terrible basketball, struggling with injuries, poor execution and a pervasive on-court malaise. But as tepid as their play has been on the court, both teams seem to be dealing with simmering stew of bad chemistry off the court. No on in either organization from the fans, to the players, to the front offices appear happy. The problem is that neither appears to have obvious opportunities to make the kind of drastic changes that are needed to swing things back in a positive direction. Even replacing a head coach still leaves the same ragged, aging rosters. It's been a difficult few months for both teams but something tells me neither has found rock bottom yet.

Kennedy: The Charlotte Bobcats will make the playoffs for the second time in franchise history, ending their three-year postseason drought. Steve Clifford has done an excellent job with this team, significantly improving their defense and increasing the Bobcats' confidence. After losing 120 of 148 games in the last two seasons, the Bobcats are currently in the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference. Because the East is so bad this year, Charlotte should get in.

Joseph: The Eastern Conference finals will not be between the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. We've been robbed of these types of matchups many times in the past, and I expect it to happen again. The interloper? The Washington Wizards have the chemistry, if healthy. The Pistons have the talent, if they can fix their rotation. The Heat and Pacers are the best teams by a wide margin, but the best teams don't always win.

What's one thing you want to see improve or change in the NBA during 2014?

Amick: We may all go this direction, but it's time for some changes to the draft. It's not a matter of the current system being so badly broken that something must be done, but the fact that it's broken just enough that too much of the in-season conversation is about tanking. Every day, there's a new Tank-o-meter of sorts being published somewhere where the informal investigation about who is and who isn't actually trying to win continues. Make the necessary tweaks to completely deincentivize losing and force front-office execs to forget about the status of their draft pick in relation to how their team plays. Put the Van Gundy brothers in charge of coming up with all the answers, and voila!

Highkin: This isn't in anybody's control, but it'd sure be nice if stars would stop getting injured. Look at the names that have missed serious time this year: Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook, Marc Gasol, Brook Lopez, Andre Iguodala, Al Horford, Anthony Davis, Tyson Chandler, J.J. Redick - the injury list is practically its own All-Star team at this point, and that's no fun for anybody.

Levy: The NBA has been incredibly gracious about building platforms for fans and media members to interact with their vast statistical resources. This season they took things about three steps further by making a huge pool of player tracking statistics, culled from the SportVU Camera System, publicly available. These numbers add a whole new level of detail to our understanding of player and team performance, capturing things like touches, player time of possession, drives, speed and distance traveled. But as exciting as these numbers are, they represent just the tip of the iceberg. If the NBA was working off of my holiday wish list the raw data behind these statistics would be publicly available as well. If that can't be accomplished I'll settle for indestructible, bionic knee replacements for every player.

Kennedy: I would love to see the NBA get rid of the one-and-done rule for draft prospects. If a player is ready to compete in the league straight out of high school, he should be able to enter the draft rather than wasting one year of his career (and risking injury) by playing one year of college basketball. I doubt the NBA will change the rule, but I'd love to see it happen.

Joseph: Getting rid of the one-and-done rule would be my top priority, but short of that, let's fix the block-charge rule and stop putting referees in such a terrible spot. Offensive fouls shouldn't be a matter of whose feet were better stuck to the ground. Or we could add a four-point shot. I'd like a four-point shot.